Should I partition my hard drive ?

[UnatcoAgent]

Ok first big thanks to Dulanic and everyone who helped out in my other thread. I am wondering if I should partition my new drive, especially if I get a 120 gig one. I have only 20 now partitioned 3 ways. I have found it usefull since I have had to reformat quite a few times, but I have all of my mp3s on one partition and they never get wiped out. What about putting windows seperate on a small partition of a few gigs and freeing the rest ?

 

[Sideswipe001]

If you do it, just make sure you don't keep the system partition TOO small.

Sometimes, you'll find programs that won't install anywhere except C: - and if you leave the boot partition too small, you can run into problems.

 

[T3C]

Originally posted by: Sideswipe001
If you do it, just make sure you don't keep the system partition TOO small.

.

that is the best advice about partitioning, lots of people do it and end up with a system partition to small

 

[nick1985]

5 gig is fine for the windows partition for me

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I've currently got a 5GB partition for XP. Working just fine.

- M4H

 

[beatle]

5 gigs for my system partition. It takes a lot of the guesswork of "did I remember to back up everything" before reformatting and reinstalling the OS.

 

[pelleplu]

I have a list of things to backup which I resort to whenever it's time to format. Then if I notice that I forgot something after i formatted, it gets added to the list. Workspretty good for me

 

[SUOrangeman]

More than you bargained for!

-SUO

 

[chocoruacal]

Yes, create a system partition...it would be stupid not to. I make my OS partitions 6 gigs large. Plenty of room for the OS, swap file, and future upgrades.

 

[gibbsman]

Personally I'm a fan of having 2 HDD's in the system. One for the system one for backup/MP3's/Digi Pics, etc.

If I only had a 120GB I would probably split it in two and do one 30-40 GIG System and then maybe a couple others for backup, or programs depending on how you like to do it. Personally I'm not a big believer in putting programs in a different partition, because if windows goes bad, you end up having to reinstall the progs anyway, so what is the point?

If you are going to dual boot ever, then be sure to make a 100mb boot partition and then have your two system partitions. This prevents you from having to do repair installs on the second installation should the system on drive C: go out.

 

[bocamojo]

In general, the more partitions you have, the less wasted space on the drive. It used to be a bigger deal in the win 95 days. In Win XP, the cluster sizes are generally smaller, so you don't have to be as concerned about slack file space. For a drive that large, I would imagine 3 partitions would be good. You could either do 3 equal 40GB partitions, or you could do a 5 or 10GB system partition, and split the rest of the disc into two equal partitions. At any rate, I would suggest using NTFS for all three, unless you dual boot the PC.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: gibbsman
Personally I'm a fan of having 2 HDD's in the system. One for the system one for backup/MP3's/Digi Pics, etc.

I have three HDDs in my main system right now, and each one has at least two partitions (one drive will be going as it's a drive that came out of another system that doesn't need to stick around once I get the data off of it).

If I only had a 120GB I would probably split it in two and do one 30-40 GIG System and then maybe a couple others for backup, or programs depending on how you like to do it. Personally I'm not a big believer in putting programs in a different partition, because if windows goes bad, you end up having to reinstall the progs anyway, so what is the point?

Exactly. I don't know what these people are thinking who recommend a tiny system partition and another for programs. That's silly, because programs write all sorts of critical stuff to the Windows Registry, and when you reinstall Windows, you must also reinstall 99% of your programs. In Linux, this is different, but in Windows, there is no need for more than two partitions (unless you make two system partitions, the second being an emergency backup if the first one goes south).

 

[CAMS]

Originally posted by:Exactly. I don't know what these people are thinking who recommend a tiny system partition and another for programs. That's silly, because programs write all sorts of critical stuff to the Windows Registry, and when you reinstall Windows, you must also reinstall 99% of your programs. In Linux, this is different, but in Windows, there is no need for more than two partitions (unless you make two system partitions, the second being an emergency backup if the first one goes south).

So under 30gb is Tiny huumm. I use 7gb for the OS and all the other programs I want. You should put Games on another partition, That silly I hear you say! well you may have to reinstall the games with the OS but you haven't lost your saves or the games config files.

I say three partitions, OS, Games & Personal stuff. yep you could mix the last two but why?
Two system partition! just ghost/compress an image file to another partition, dont waste space with a whole partition. Ohh and if the OS image was made while the games where installed the games will still work without being reinstalled.

It all starts making sense!!

 

[SkaarjMaster]

Yes, definitely partition. I would suggest 3 (one for system, one for games and one for music). But I would make that system partition more like 7-8GB just to make absolutely sure you have enough room for programs and stuff. Whatever partitions you create after that is totally dependent on your preferences and needs though.

I presently have two hard drives (20GB, 100GB) on my Win98SE system, but the only thing that's backed up is the C: drive (system). Here's how it plays out, but I'm not sure about some of the other sizes (I'm at work now):

1st HD (20GB)
C: (6 GB) >> System
D: (5 GB) >> Games
E: (5 GB) >> MoreGames
F: (4 GB) >> GameDemos

2nd HD (100GB)
Hidden: (6GB) >> Backup of C: drive
G: (50 GB) >> NewGames and some newer GameDemos
H: (25 GB ?) >> Music
I: (19GB ?) >> Other Stuff and old computer files (PRON is here also, hehe)

My second system will be built in Feb. 2004 and will have two 200GB hard drives with one being a complete backup of the other. I'm either going to run RAID or just do a backup every weekend. I will probably have 3 or 4 partitions on each.

Good Luck!